Otto lampe



(No Model.)

0. L'AMPE. TRACE HO0K..

Patented Feb. 5, 1884.

' A UNITED STA'IES PATENT @FFICE.

OTTO LAMPE, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

TRACE-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 292,922, dated February 5, 188%.

Application filed November 10, 1883. (No model.)

To a whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Orro LAMPE, of Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany, have invented certain Improvements in Trace-Hooks, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawmgs.

My invention relates to trace-hooks which are so constructed that the traces may be instantaneously released from the whiffletree without being obliged to back the horse or to move the carriage or vehicle toward the horse.

The invention will be fully described, and then pointed out in the claim.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a tracehook constructed according to my invention, showing the hook closed. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, showing the hook open. Fig. 3 is'a top View of the hook and one end of whiffletree, to which it is attached. Fig. 4 is a view like Fig. 1, but showing a slight modification.

Similar letters of reference indicate correresponding parts in the several figures.

This improved trace -hook, which is, by means of a screw-clamp, m, or other suitable means, attached to the end of a whiffletree, S, has at its front end a movable nose orbeak, A, that is pivoted by a bolt or pin, 10, to the body or stock B of the hook. The eye or ring of the trace is placed over this nose when the latter is in an open position, as shown in Fig. 2, after which the nose is turned back so far that its point rests on the body or stock of the hook, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, or until this point comes so near to the body that the eye or ring of the trace cannot slipout, in which position a spring -catch engages the backwardly-prolonged root or base of the nose, and locks the latter so that it cannot open accidentally. The spring catch .consists of a double-armed lever,D,which is partly received in a recess provided in the under side of the body B of the hook, and which is fulcrumed therein on a pin, 02, secured in said body. The said lever extends longitudinally of the body, and its front end forms a catch, which enters into a notch, e, in the hinder end of the prolonged root or base of thenose orbeak when the latter is closed, while the back end of the said lever, that projects somewhat from the body of the hook, is formed into afinger or handle, by which it can be pushed upward against a spiral or flatspring, h, placedbetween the body of the hook andupper side of the lever. This spring keeps the locked lever in position and keeps the hook in a closed condition, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4.

For opening the nose and disengaging the hook from the trace, the finger or handle must be pushed upward, in consequence of which the front end of the lockinglever moves downward out of the notch e and unlocks the nose or beak, which latter is now free to turn and be thrown over the front part of the body B, after which the eye or ring of the trace will slip over the nose and off the hook.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the body or stock B, provided with a recess in its under side, the nose or beak A, pivoted in the body or stock, and provided at its rear'end with the notch e,

the double-armed catch-lever D,arranged longitadinally of the body or stock, pivoted in the recess in the under side thereof, and at its forward end engaging with the notch e, and the spring h, arranged between the under side of the body or stock and the upper side of said 

